Navigating the World of Health and Nutrition

I know the world of weight loss and health can sometimes be a difficult place to navigate, so I want to give you a few questions you can ask yourself while you navigate through this world of health and nutrition. (These are the same questions I asked myself several years ago as I was looking for the answers to my own weight loss struggles.)

#1 - Who is the information coming from?

The grim reality while I was in college studying nutrition is that many of my teachers and professors were just not the role models I was looking for. They were not only overweight, but they looked exhausted and many of them had been spotted by other students at local fast food places. I’m a true believer in "practice what you preach" and I had a really hard time taking advice about how to be healthy from someone who seemed to be struggling with their own weight and health.

You also want to take a look at your goals and choose your source accordingly. If your main goal is to pack on tons of muscle and win your state’s next bodybuilding contest, chances are ME and Beyond Diet may just not be the best place for you. But if you’re a parent, grandparent, or someone whose main focus is losing weight while maintaining good health, I’m your gal.

With every bit of information you find on the internet, in magazines, or on TV, be sure to find exactly who the source is before implementing the recommended information into your own life.

#2 - What is one action step you can take from your new information?

Let's say you get your hands on a great book or an interesting article, or you watch a phenomenal nutrition documentary on TV that is jam packed with valuable information. Do you completely overhaul your life based on the new information? Do you stop everything you’re doing and re-start your entire weight loss regimen?

I find that many times people are paralyzed by the information they find. Instead of using it to their benefit, they end up doing nothing at all because it seems like too much of a daunting task to implement what they just learned.

This is why I have always encouraged people to take their health changes one step at a time. What is the one thing you can do today to make a change in the state of your health? Can you drink just 1 more glass of water? Can you go for a mini walk every hour to increase your physical activity? Can you replace your afternoon sugary snack with a healthy one?

#3 - What is my true goal?

The truth is your real goal is not to lose 10 pounds, 20 pounds, or even 100 pounds. Your real goal is most likely one of the following…

I want to look better and feel more comfortable in the clothes in my closet.

I want to wear a pair of skinny jeans and like the way I look.

I want to walk up a flight of stairs and not feel exhausted.

I want to play with my kids and not be out of breath.

I want to feel comfortable in my bathing suit in front of family and friends.

I want to change the numbers my doctor just told me are putting me at risk for certain diseases.

I want to _______________________________ (you fill in the blank).

When I first made the decision to change the state of my body and my health, my true goal was to feel comfortable in my own skin. I was in my early twenties and still dating. I had a hard time being social and meeting new people because I was really embarrassed about how terrible my skin was (my acne didn’t clear up until I started eating healthy). On top of my embarrassing acne, I was 30 pounds heavier than my small 5-foot-tall frame needed to be, making it really difficult for me to find clothes that I felt comfortable in and wanted to wear.

So my true ultimate goal was to feel comfortable meeting new people and dating, NOT losing weight. Shedding the excess 30 pounds and having my skin clear up was just how I was going to help reach my true ultimate goal.

What is your true ultimate goal? Spend some time today filling in the blank and you will find that it will be much easier to "keep your eye on the prize" as you make your own changes to your weight and health.

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